Secrets from a war time coming to life
by shadowkat18
Summary: this is a Pumpkin Scissors story. i really like that anime, but its too new and no fanfic page has it on its categories. Anyway, Randel is being hunted by the one person he had to let go. summary sucks i know, but i promise that the story WILL get better!
1. The secrets on Randel's past

**Secrets from a war time coming to life**

**Chapter 1: The truth behind Randels past**

The day was shinning behind the clouds early on the morning. A river ran next to a small bridge giving a peaceful look at the city. Of course this was nothing but appearances, considering the desperate situation that has been on the Empire for the last three years of post-war. People were trying to gather their lives where they were left when the war began. The military aid that the whole empire waited so long to come appeared to be non-existent, and the Section III of the Intelligence Unit, the so called "Pumpkin Scissors" were up to their necks in paper work.

A tall figure was sitting on the tunnel created by the bridge over the river. As soon as the sun began to rise, he was out of his sleeping bag, putting his uniform on. He walked outside the tunnel, letting the early sun wake him up completely. Corporal Randel Oland, former trooper of the feared 901-ATT, Anti-Tank Trooper was a big guy, as his superior Officer Oreld liked to say. His six feet stature was enough to scare everybody away from him. He had realized that the first time he went to the Intelligence HQ, seeing those two military secretaries shaking when they were under his huge shadow. The sun bathed his dark brown hairs, as he placed some milk on a tin plate. He chuckled to himself when he did that. _You always liked cats_, he reminded himself, his mind going remembering the face of the one person that haven't been afraid of him, not even when he lit the lantern that hung from his belt. His hand wandered to the item on his waist and let out a resigned sigh. No matter how much people he helped, no matter how many tanks he destroyed, he would never make people think of him as nothing more than a monster. He remembered the look on Machs' face the day he got his legs pierced across to save his life. Randel couldn't help to ignore the blood rushing down his legs that day on the workshop. He never truly understood what exactly was inside the lantern, but every time he turned it on, it seemed that all thought of fear, pain and rationality escaped his head. He always kept on going, killing everyone that had the bad luck of getting on his way. That was the same way his entire unit had died, leaving him as the only survivor of the 901 Unit.

Randel shook his head to make all those thoughts away from him. He left the cats drinking the milk and began to walk towards HQ. He knew that he was already late, but still he didn't care. Though the Lieutenants outburst of exasperation always scared him, he didn't care. Though the girl was too scary for her own good, that fiancé of hers should be a really smart man if she was always so calmed when he came around. He walked to the front gate, where the two regular soldiers stood. He went inside the building where Section III was.

The second Lieutenant Alice L. Marvin was pacing around the office of the Pumpkin Scissors Section.

"He is late, AGAIN! I don't know how the Corporal's unit on the war was, but definitely it wasn't so good, since they tolerated his tardiness!!"

Oreld leaned to Machs and whispered in his ear:

"She is fuming again"

A very upset blonde turned around to face her subordinate

"What did you just say?"

Quickly, Oreld came up with an excuse

"I… was just saying to Machs, that… that… that the Corporal should be here early! I was agreeing with your statement, LT!"

She sighed and was about to add something else, when the door opened and the tall figure of Randel came in the view. Soon, Alice went to greet him:

"What the hell are you doing here so LATE?!" She practically yelled at him, making him involuntary take a step back.

"I… am sorry"

"Yeah, you should be sorry Corporal; we have been waiting for you before we go searching for a specific individual and by now she should be gone from the location that the tip sent to us stated."

Oreld stood from his chair as if his chair were on fire

"We are looking for a lady?" He said, with a huge grin on his face.

"Not any "lady" Oreld" Alice said to her subordinate, while giving him a cold-as-ice glare, "as a matter of fact we are looking for someone from the 912-SAT Unit."

Randel's eyes grew wider.

"One of the Silent Assassination Troopers?"

Alice turned to see him

"Silent Assassination Troopers? What is that supposed to mean?"

Randel sat on his chair.

"They were a part of the Invisible 9 Units. They were trained in assassination and invisibility on the field."

Machs face got serious. _This girl is probably like the Corporal. With a secret past and if someone tries to find something about them will get killed. _

"Machs!"

The black haired guy looked up, having the Lieutenant's face only inches away from him. He jumped back, startled by that.

"Hand the file on the girl to the Corporal."

The bespectacled young man handed the folder to the tall man sitting next to him. Randel opened the file and his hands began to shake. Inside the file there was the photograph of someone he thought long dead. The picture showed a pretty young girl, with a serious look on her face, and a military pose. She had brown hair that was tied on a high braided ponytail that fell down her waist. _Helena… this can't be possible, I thought she was dead. _Randel thought as he tried to regain his composure. He returned the file to the LT and stood up, walking to the window.

"Why are we looking for her?" He said, without looking back at the Lieutenant.

"She is a suspect of stealing goods from the local feudal lord. However, some locals claim that she is just "rescuing" them, and say that the feudal lord refused to give the commoners the goods. Actually they are complaining that we should be looking for the feudal lord instead of her. But still, we have to check that. Go and get ready, we are going to the North lands and check what is going on there."

Machs and Oreld began walking to the storage room, but the last one turned around before exiting the room.

"Yo, big guy, don't just stand there!"

Randel turned around and began walking to the door where the two officers waited for him, taking a glance at the picture one more time. _She is alive, how is that possible? I need to find her, I need to get some answers._

First chapter!! I truly recommend Pumpkin Scissors if you haven't seen it, I really don't like the pairing they made with Randel and Alice. I always thought that Randel should be with someone like him, with a tragic and mysterious past. The next chapters will be longer, I promise, I'll introduce the character of Helena and give her a little more background. I will, also, explain why she hadn't looked for Randel and the reason she stayed away from him.


	2. Finding someone you love

**Finding someone you love.**

Randel was sitting on his usual spot on the military vehicle, watching the scenery pass by, his mind racing like a tank. Why haven't Helena looked for him? Why she was in such a lost place as the Northern lands? Only a few people could stand living in those cold areas, and the war hit that place harder than any other spot on the Empire. It almost seemed as she wanted to stay away from anyone and disappear from sight. _Helena, why are you hiding from me? You were never scared of me before. What happened? What made you change your mind? You thought I was dead?_ Thousands of thought went through his mind, trying to understand why Helena hid. They had made a vow to look for each other once the war was over. Over the announce of the ceasefire, Randel had begun his search on Helena, but no one could tell him anything about her whereabouts. It was as she had died. But one year ago he received a tip from an old friend of the Invisible 9, claiming that he had seen Helena on a black market on the outsides of a small village. By the time he arrived there, she had already disappeared, if she was really there. _She was there…_ he repeated to himself, _she was there, I am sure of that._

"Corporal"

Randel searched where the voice came from and found the eyes of Alice staring at him.

"Are you Ok?" the blonde asked him with concern printed on her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"You look upset about something. You mind telling me what is upsetting you? I need your full attention on the search ahead of us."

"I will give it my full attention LT. Don't worry about me"

Alice turned to face forward. She was really upset with the Corporal. She had felt chills on the back of her neck when she saw the picture of the girl they were looking for. Something good or bad ALWAYS happened when she felt chills on the back of her neck. Before she met the Corporal, the chills were a rare thing, but since then, they became a lot more usual.

The rest of the drive to the North was silent. The weather began to get colder, so they all soon were wearing the big warm jackets with the sign of the Unit on the left arm. Finally they arrived to a very gloomy village, with the sight of a huge castle on the hill that stood over the village. They all got outside the car and Oreld began to stretch himself after the long ride. It was dark on the afternoon, so they all decided to search for a place to spend the night in, considering that if they slept on their sleeping bags, they would probably freeze to death. They went to a local pub and Alice talked to the old lady on the bar, while the three men sat on a booth.

"I hope that we find this girl soon. I wouldn't like to spend a lot of time on this frozen hell hole" Oreld said, yawning after he finished.

"She won't be easy to find" Machs said, "Smugglers from the army are the hardest ones to find. We must be careful on the search or we will scare her away"

Randel sighed and then he looked out the window. Would be possible that Helena was here?

"Here" Alice's voice was heard next to them, and he saw her handing them two keys, "You guys get the bigger room, considering there's three of you and I will be on the one on the end of the hallway. Now let's go and get some sleep, we will start the search tomorrow morning."

Machs took the key handed to them and got up the table, followed by Oreld and Randel.

"That girl on the file looked pretty hot, don't you think?" Oreld say to them

Machs only shook his head, but Randel stopped dead on his tracks.

"Don't say that" Randel said.

"Don't tell me that you don't like a girl like that big guy! She has everything on the right place!"

"You don't know her" Randel said, "stop saying things like that of people you don't know"

Oreld was about to add something else, but he felt Machs hand on his shoulders.

"Let's get some sleep, and stop babbling about girls Oreld."

Oreld nodded and they all walked inside the room.

"There are only two beds." Oreld said.

"I'll sleep on the floor." Randel said, taking out his sleeping bag from its case and unrolling it on the floor.

Mechs and Oreld just nodded and got on the beds. Soon they all were asleep.

The man was running to the location where she was meant to be around this time. The blizzard fell down his face, but he ignored the cold, knowing that he had to get the news to her. He soon reached his destination, a small wooden house on the outsides of the village. He ran and opened the door suddenly.

"Miss, I have news for you!" He said, breathing hard as he tried to get his composure back.

A young woman stood in front of a lit fireplace. Only her back was visible, but you could see that she had a long braid that started on top of her head and ended on her lower back. She was totally in black, with a long trench coat and black pants. She turned around and her face came in view. She was beautiful, with small almond-shaped eyes and white skin. Hanging on her neck, there was a silver necklace with a golden ring hanging from it, the words 901-ATT words engraved inside it.

"What news do you have Michael?" Her voice was calmed and on a business tone.

"There are military forces on town miss. A woman with three men. They have an insignia with a Pumpkin on their sleeves."

She let out a small sigh.

"So, the cheery unit is here on town. I wonder what they are doing here. Maybe they are gonna take down the feudal lord from once and for all."

The man sat down in front of the table.

"Miss Gloria from the pub said that the woman asked for two rooms and information on you, miss."

"Me? So they are looking for me. Tell me Michael, how did they all look?"

"The woman is blonde, with a small sword hanging from her waist. The men with her look like regular militia, but one of them has a lantern hanging from his belt. He is very tall ma'am"

The woman's eyes grew wide with shock, but soon she recovered her cool demeanor.

"Did you get their names?"

"The woman's name is Alice, but I couldn't get the names of the men. Sorry ma'am"

"It's ok, Michael. Go home and rest. We are making another raid inside the castle tomorrow night."

The man nodded and turned to leave. The woman sat on a big couch in front of the fireplace. Her fingers began to toy with the ring on her necklace. _Randel is here? I never thought that he could end in a Unit like the Pumpkin Scissors one. When we were recruited by the Kaplan Institute, we never thought that things would end up like this._ Her hands wandered to the back of her neck. Under the braid she always wore, a number was tattooed on the back of her neck. 001-912-SAT. She was the first subject of experimentation on the SAT series, soon becoming the best one on her unit. Soon she heard of a newly created unit, the 901-ATT. That was the time where she met Randel. She chuckled with her memories. At first she thought that it was impossible for a single footed soldier to take down an enemy tank, but after he saved her from being killed by a tank that sneaked on her while she was on a mission, she realized that he was no ordinary man. Not that she was ordinary either, but still, the show of him standing inches away from the tank and not even flinching was something shocking. Of course that he was injured on the process, the soldiers of the 901 always were covered in scars and a lot died everyday, so she helped him to get better, since they were stuck on the iced tundra. She soon realized that he was a kindhearted man, instead of the fables she heard on the battlefield, about the Gespenst Jäger, or Ghost Hunter. They were stuck on the small cabin for a month, with almost no food. At first she felt unsure with a man around her, but soon the feeling of confidence and trust replaced her fears. It wasn't long when they started falling for each other, disobeying the direct command that forbid love relationships between the soldiers of the Invisible 9 Unit. The war ended one year after they started their secret affair, and she tried to keep the promise of searching for him, no matter where they were. She went back to the secrets labs of the Kaplan Institute, and there she was taken to Muse Kaplan, the director of the projects. There, she realized one truth that Miss Kaplan knew long ago, due to the recent medical reports on the SAT unit: she was pregnant. Helena tried to escape and avoid the inevitable consequences of her state: abortion, but to no avail. Muse Kaplan sedated her with a shot gun and when Helena woke up; she knew that her baby was gone.

_Flashback_

_Helena was lying on the infirmary bed, handcuffed to her bed. She couldn't cry anymore for her dead child, she knew that nothing could bring the baby back._

"_Good morning 001." The cold tone of Miss Kaplan was heard on the room. Helena turned to see the woman standing next to her bed, hatred all over her face._

"_My name is Helena, you bitch! Let me go!"_

"_Let you go? So you can search for Corporal Randel Oland?" Helena's face couldn't hide her shock, while the tall woman nodded, "Are you surprised? You thought that we will never know that you were having an affair with him? The chemicals on the lantern that he carries do a lot more than just turn him into a mindless killing machine 001."_

"_What did you do to him? Where is he?" Helena yelled at the woman, "what did you do to him?"_

_The doctor shrugged with an evil smile across her face._

"_We just gave him a little session on Sci-Ops. We will let you go, my dear, but if you go looking for him, when he turns his lantern on, the last thing your eyes will see, will be the front of his gun. He will kill you, even if doesn't want to. Our sci-ops did a very good job, even if he doesn't remember a thing about that."_

_The doctor turned around and began walking out the room, as she signaled the guards to un-cuff the girl. Helena laid there on the bed, ignoring the fact that she was already free to leave. At first she wanted to pretend that she was lying, but she knew too much to just be bluffing. Helena stood up and left the building. _

_End of flashback_

Helena had stopped looking for Randel since that day. She began to hide, knowing that he was looking for him, for reasons that someone else had put on his head. She ended on that far side of the Empire, stealing the goods that the feudal lord kept for himself and giving them to the villagers. Everything seemed to return to normal until that day, when Michael told her that the Pumpkin Scissors were in town.

She rose from the chair and put her black scarf around her neck and exited the house.

Randel was lying on top of the sleeping bag, unable to sleep. Oreld and Machs were already asleep, snoring very soundly. _This is ridiculous, I am never gonna be able to sleep in here. Maybe I should go for a walk._ He got up and exited the room, going down the stairs. He went outside the pub and began walking around town, without a destination in mind. He just walked to the town square and sat down a bench, the snow falling over him. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. _Who could be outside on a cold night? _He wondered, while he turned around, to see where the noise was coming from. He saw a dark silhouette walking to on the main lane. It almost seemed like a ghost, all in black, with a black scarf moving in the wind. He got up, curious about who could be.

"Hi, there." He said to the person. The silhouette turned around and stared at him, but the face was hidden in the shadows. Suddenly the person turned its back on Randel and began to run away from him.

"Wait!" Randel said to the figure, "I am not going to hurt you!", as he ran after the person. The figure passed next to the windows of the pub and he saw that the person was a girl. She ran very fast, and soon she spaced herself from Randel. He saw the girl turn around the corner, but when he turned around the same corner, she was gone.

He sighed and turned to the pub, suddenly tired of the chase.

Helena was standing on the pub's rooftop. _That was a close one_ she thought while she saw Randel turn around, disappointed. Helena wanted desperately to go down and face him, but she was scared. She didn't knew what he would do if she faced him. Would he kill her? She knew that she had no chance against him in combat, even if she was faster than him. She could run away, but still he could hunt her. _I am sorry, Randel. But I couldn't stand having you killing me, of all people._


	3. Hunting in the night

**Hunting in the night, surprises on the shadows**

The next morning, the Section III unit began the search for the mysterious girl. They searched the entire village, but somehow all the villagers seemed to ignore them or just tell them that the girl helped them from their ruthless feudal lord, but none of them gave them important information. Alice decided that they should go to the feudal lord's castle and try to get some information from him. She was surprised to see the Corporal so interest in the search of the smuggler. They were walking towards the castle, where they were received by one of the man's servants. They were taken to the solarium of the castle, where the feudal lord was taking care of his plants. He was around his mid-forties, almost bold and with some extra pounds. He turned to see the group that was on his garden.

"Are you here to stop that little whore? She had stolen all my goods and given them to the commoners. How a respectable noble could live like that?" he began complaining to the military.

Alice sighed, exasperated with the man

"The villagers claim that you steal the goods from them. We need to see your storing facilities so we can deduce who is telling the truth."

The little man shook his head.

"No! I am not letting you trespass my warehouses!"

Alice turned to her subordinates.

"Search the ground for illegal stored goods!" then she turned to the feudal lord, "we don't need your permission to do so, we have a warrant that allows us to search the grounds if we have to", with that she left the stunned man and went with her men to do the search.

After the search they found out that there were lots of boxes with the military insignia on them piled on a back warehouse. Alice decided that they should take them to the villagers and arrest the lord for stealing the goods.

"LT."

She turned around and saw Randel standing behind her.

"What do you want Corporal?" she said to him.

"What are we gonna do about the smuggler?" Randel decided to call Helena like that, trying to hide the fact that he knew her.

"The feudal lord received a cargo two days ago, so he was expecting another intrusion from the smuggler. We will stay here tonight and watch for her to come. Then we will stop her and interrogate her"

Randel nodded and went back to the warehouse. _Tonight,_ he thought, _I will see you tonight_.

……

The night soon fell and Helena was standing on the outsides of the castle. Her men were waiting for her signal to get inside and steal the goods.

She walked to the little door meant to be the servant's entrance to the castle, located on the south part of the castle. She cracked the door open and slid inside, letting the shadows of the night hid her. She walked until the gate of the warehouses and began cracking the locks. That stupid lord tried to change them after every robbery, but she always knew how to open them. All the years of training and experimentation on the Kaplan laboratories did left something worthy on her. The lock clicked open and she took it out. She slid the doors open and walked inside. She walked to the place where the boxes usually stood, but she found nothing.

Lights went on and Helena froze at the sight in front of her eyes. Four people stood in front of her, two young men pointing rifles at her and a blonde woman with a sword in her hand. But what caught Helena's attention was the man that stood behind the three of them.

"Stop! We, the Section III unit, the Pumpkin Scissors Section declare that you are under arrest!" The blond said, pointing the sword at her.

Helena snapped back in reality and smiled at the girl in front of her.

"Do you think that you can get me so easily? Besides, I have been doing YOUR job here! This bastard of a feudal lord let the village starve to death while he got fatter everyday!" she said, and then turned her attention back to the tall man behind them, he face getting serious again, "so, you found me. Are you gonna shoot me, Randel?"

The tall man's expression got shocked, then hurt.

"That's why you ran away from me Helena? You thought I was going to kill you?"

Alice turned to face him.

"You know her?"

Randel ignored the question, his whole attention focused on the girl in front of him.

"If you thought that I was gonna kill you, why did you kept the ring?"

Helena's hand wandered to the ring that hung from her neck and looked down, while she felt the tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

"I ran because Kaplan told me she programmed you to kill me if you lit the lantern. She said that she knew about us and that if I tried to find you, you would kill me yourself. I already lost too much to be killed from all people by you. I kept the ring because it was the only thing that I could have to remember you by," She dried her tears and clenched her fists, staring at all the group, "Now get out of my way!"

Alice walked forward and raised the sword again.

"I can't let you walk away"

Helena recovered her cold demeanour and stared at Alice.

"Get out of my way"

"You are coming with us, and that's the end of the discussion" then she tried to grab Helena by the wrist, but she easily dodged her and jumped towards Oreld and Machs. Hitting them and avoiding their futile attempts to stop her, she disarmed them and knocked them out the way. She ran past Randel and began running towards the door. She made it out the castle, but before she could ran far, she felt like she had hit a wall. She fell down and looked up, finding Randel in front of her. She quickly got up and tried to run away, but he held her by the wrist.

"Let me go!" She cried to him while she tried to pull away from his hand. He easily pulled her in an embrace.

"I am not gonna hurt you" He said as he held her close to him. She stopped fighting and began to cry.

"You are not sure of that" She said in midst her tears, "you don't know what they did to you"

"Just come with me. I won't use the lantern tonight. I just need to know" He said as he pushed her away to see her, "I need to know the whole story and you are the only one that can tell me. Please"

Helena stepped back from him and nodded.

"Just you and me. You know that they can't hear anything from our past."

Randel nodded and they walked away from the castle.

……

Alice came outside the castle looking for the Corporal, but he was nowhere to be seen. She was worried about him. What if the girl took him down? But soon she denied that thought. Come on, the guy could take a tank by himself, it was impossible that the girl could have killed him!

"LT!" She turned around and saw the two injured Machs and Oreld walking out the castle, each one of them holding the other.

"Where is the Corporal?" Machs asked her.

"He went after the smuggler by himself" she lied to her men, not wanting to accept that she had no idea where he was, "let's go back to the village so you two can rest"

……

Helena opened the door of her house and two cats walked to greet her: one black and the other dark blue (AN: There is a raze of cats named Blue Russian and believe it or not, they are BLUE! Google it, I swear its true!) She kneeled to caress them.

"I see that you still like cats" She heard Randel saying behind her.

She got up and turned to face him.

"Old habits die hard, you know" she said, as she took her trench coat off and tossed it on a couch, "how about you, do you still have the tendency of getting shot by tanks?"

"As you used to say, it seems that tanks like to target me," his face smiling at her soon turning serious again, "what did Kaplan did to you?"

Helena sat on the couch and he sat next to her.

"I had a medical check-out right after the war ended. I was supposed to do it and then they would let me go. I was expecting to find you after that, but the results of the blood tests came back. Kaplan called me to her office, saying that I had an anomaly on my blood tests. Once I got there she told me that there was no anomaly. She said that I was pregnant."

Randel's eyes turned to her in awe

"You were pregnant? What happened to the baby?"

Helena looked down and fought the tears that threatened to fall down her face.

"Kaplan told me that I wasn't allowed to be pregnant, so I realized that she was trying to terminate the pregnancy. I tried to run, but she pulled out a tranquilizer gun and shot me on the back. When I woke up, I was in the infirmary and I had this," she lifted her shirt over her stomach. A large scar crossed her belly, on its low part, "after that she came to see me and told me that she took you to the sci-ops and that if you lit the lantern when I was next to you, you would kill me. She said that the same chemicals that helped you take down the tanks without second thoughts would make you shoot me without hesitation. That's the reason I ran away. I already lost my baby, I wanted to die, but not by your hands."

Randel stood there, shocked by the words she had just spoken. He lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulders.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

Helena looked at him, the tears flowing down freely.

"I am sorry."

Randel placed his hand on her cheek, caressing gently her face. His hand was so big that it covered all her side, so he held her closer and kissed her gently. Helena kissed him back and soon she leaned on him, making him fall on the couch, while she was still kissing him. He left her lips and began kissing her down her neck, while she began taking his clothes off. Soon they left themselves forget all the pain of the past three years, while they rediscovered themselves one more time, trying to make up the absence of the past three years.

……

If you had read my stories, you know that I never ever write lemons the whole way through. I am not very comfortable on that, and this is as far as I let myself go, so sorry if you guys are disappointed on that!! Leave your reviews and let me know what cha think!


	4. The morning after

**The morning after**

The winter sun entered the windows of the small house on the edge of the village. Randel felt it hit him right on his eyes, so he moved away from the blinding light. He felt the warm feeling he had on top of him, so he opened his eyes, catching the sight of Helena curled on top of him, breathing deeply in her sleep. He smiled when he saw her tiny figure in comparison of his. _I missed waking up like this, _he thought as he shifted his position to get more comfortable, but trying not to wake her up, _has it really been so long?_

Soon, Helena began to awake. It has been the first time in a long time when she had had such a good sleep._ I wish I could stay longer like this,_ she sighed.

"Morning" a deep voice said and she looked up, seeing a disheveled Randel beneath her, "How did you sleep?"

"Very good, considering that we spent most night catching up," she yawned and stretched a little, "you?"

He smiled at her and pulled her up to his face to kiss her. Helena laughed when she felt him pulling her closer to him. After a while, he pushed her back, breathing heavily.

"Does that answer your question?" He said to her, and she nodded, smiling at him, but soon her face got serious.

"You should head back" she said to him, while she stood up and placed a sheet around her naked form. Randel sat up.

"What? Why?"

"You disappeared in the middle of the night, Randel, your LT must be worrying about you. You should go back now." She said, as she sat in front of the fireplace to light it up, her back facing him.

"Come with me" He said to her, getting up from the couch. She stood up and turned to face him.

"No, you already know that I can't" She shook her head, "Besides, you LT wanted to arrest me"

"Just come and I'll help you", Randel said, getting closer to her and putting his hands over her shoulders, "explain this situation to her and then you can leave"

She stood on her tip toes and kissed him lightly on his lips.

"Ok, but after that, I am disappearing again. Don't come after me, please"

"You know I can't promise you that" He said to her, whispering softly, "I can't stop looking for you now that I know that you are alive"

"You have to, Randel" she said while she walked towards the bedroom, "I don't want you to kill me"

……

Alice was sitting on the front of the pub, her feet tapping on the sidewalk.

_Where the hell is HE? He is gonna have hell to pay if he doesn't show up soon!_

"LT!"

She looked at Oreld, that was pointing at the road. Two figures walked towards them in the snow. The tall figure couldn't be anyone but the Corporal, but a smaller figure walked next to him. Alice soon recognized the figure as the girl from the night before, so she ordered her men to aim their rifles at her.

"Thief, stop right there!" She shouted, as she pointed at her with her blade. The two figures approached them and Alice saw that the girl carried three swords with her. They were three-pointed sai, two on her back and one tied behind her waist.

"Lieutenant, Helena came by her own free will, please stop aiming at her" Randel said to his superior in a calmed tone. Alice put the sword down and signaled Machs and Oreld to do the same with her rifle. She turned to face the man next to the girl.

"You have some explaining to do, Corporal. Why didn't you tell me that you knew her in first place? Why did you disappeared in the middle of the night with her and have the nerve to show up at this time?"

"I am sorry, but I want to explain this to you in private LT, right after Helena leaves."

"Leaves?" Alice said in disbelief, "She assaulted Machs and Oreld last night and you expect me to let her leave? She is coming to HQ in our custody!"

Helena's hand slowly went to the two sai on her back and pulled them.

"I am not going with you" she said as she held the weapons pointing at Alice.

"You were a soldier for the Imperial Army during the war! How dare you refuse to obey and order from a superior?" Alice yelled at her.

"I disobey because the army betrayed me, _Lieutenant_" Helena said, putting a sarcastic tone on the last word.

Alice lowered her sword one more time in shock.

"What do you mean by "the army betrayed me"?"

"They took away from me the people I love the most, just because it was forbidden for me to love" Helena said, her knuckles getting white while her grasp on the sai tightened, "The army killed my son! And programmed someone I love to kill me! If there is anyone allowed here to hate the army it's me and Randel! How do you expect me to trust you if you represent everything I hate?"

Alice looked down.

"I'm sorry"

Helena's eyes widened in shock. She slowly placed the sai back to their holsters and walked near her.

"It's not your fault." Alice's eyes rose and met Helena's, "If you gained Randel's respect and trust, then I trust in you too. I will go with you, but after this mess is cleared up, I will leave"

Alice nodded and they all got inside the car.

……

Muse Kaplan was sitting in front of her table, with a bunch of papers spread on top of it. _Who would think that those two would be such a trouble? Maybe I shouldn't have killed 001's baby, but kept it for research. The product of the mating of those two would have been an interesting thing to watch. A perfect killer and an anti-tank trooper? That kid would have been the start of a new line in the Invisible 9 series_. She turned around when she heard someone knocking at the door.

"Come in"

A man in a black suit entered the room.

"We received news on the Section III report. They found 001 and they are bringing her here right now."

"Dead or alive, Dimitri?"

"They are bringing her alive for interrogation, miss. Apparently Corporal Oland never used his lantern on this mission"

"Good. As soon as she places a foot on this place I want her taken to containment her in the laboratory's cells. Are we clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am"

"Good. You can leave now"

The man bowed and turned to leave. Muse Kaplan smiled at no one in particular. _I am starting this research where I left it. I think. I think that the results will be interesting this time._

……

The car reached its destination. Machs parked inside the spot designated for the unit and they all got out the car.

"This sure hasn't changed a lot" Helena said, admiring the building.

"Lieutenant Alice L. Malvin?" A voice was heard behind them.

"Yes?" Alice turned and saw a group of 15 soldiers behind them, "what do you want?"

"We have orders to take the prisoner with us" He said, pointing at Helena, "Please, remove your weapons now"

Helena quickly took out her sai and looked at Alice with terror written all over her face.

"You lied to me!"

She ran towards the soldiers, the swords on her hands. They all took pointed their rifles at her and shot, but she jumped out the way and landed in the middle of the group. She began taking the soldiers down, hitting them with the swords. Soon all the soldiers were lying on the floor unconscious, Helena standing in the middle of them. She looked at Randel with hurtful eyes.

"This is why I didn't want to come. Kaplan must be behind all of this!"

"Yes, I am, my dear."

Helena turned and saw Muse Kaplan standing behind her with a gun in her hand, pointing at her.

"You know that you are fast enough to get out of my way before I pull the trigger, but none of them can do it" she said, pointing at Machs, Oreld and Alice, "And I wouldn't do that if I were you, Corporal," she said, looking that Randel's hand was approaching his lantern, "You might kill me, but then you would kill her as well," she said, pointing at Helena, "001, I suggest you come with me willing fully and the four of you forget this incident" she said, looking at the rest of them, "so, are you coming?"

Helena looked at Randel and sighed. She threw the sai at her feet and nodded. Muse aimed at her and pulled the trigger of the gun. The round hit her on her stomach and Helena fell backwards, while the group behind her stood in shock.

"Why did you kill her?" Randel yelled at Kaplan with rage.

"She is not dead, Corporal. It was a tranquilizer round and she will be fine. This is the same anesthetic used with all the 9 series. Normal human beings can't survive it, but in people like you it's nothing"

Muse turned around and made signs to the group of soldiers that came with her. They aimed at the Pumpkin Scissors and one of them picked Helena's body, leaving them behind.

……..……..

Fourth chapter! So what cha think of the fic? Let me know!!


	5. Dangerous encounters

**Dangerous encounters**

"Damn!" A Randel's fist hit his desk on Section III, leaving the mark of his fist marked on the wood, "We have to go and get her!"

Behind him, Machs, Stekkin and Oreld stood as far away from him as the walls let them. Only Alice had the guts to approach the furious man. She placed a hand on his back and he turned around.

"I am going to get her out of there" He said, walking towards the door, but Alice walked faster and stood in front of the door.

"You are not going anywhere, Corporal. The arrest was made legally and there is nothing we can do about it"

"Have you any idea of what they are gonna do to her inside those laboratories? Do you have any idea on how the Invisible 9 section was created? We were their lab rats; they made us freaks, all of us! Remember the incident in the sewers, Lieutenant! That man was part of the Invisible 9! Kaplan took all his chances of being normal away from him just because she wanted to play with us, use us as puppets on her war games, trying to win a war that caused nothing but pain and suffering to everybody! I don't give a damn if I am gonna be considered a criminal, but I am getting Helena out of there!"

Randel lifted Alice from the ground and pusher her aside. He opened the door and walked out the room.

"He is right" Oreld said, "its time for all that crap to end."

"But we can't do it like that!" Alice said to him, rage building inside her, "I know that the Corporal thinks I don't care, but there are ways of doing this" She opened the door and walked outside. Alice walked quickly by the halls, asking anybody she saw if they had seen the Corporal. She walked to the gardens of the facility and saw a familiar figure sitting on a bench.

"Corporal!" She hurried to his side and sat next to him. The wind blew his brown hairs in every direction. Alice sighed when she looked at him. _There is something we can do._

"We were getting married" She heard him say.

"You were?" She asked him, very surprised. She never pictured him as someone who would get married. "That's the reason she had a ring hanging from that silver necklace?"

He nodded.

"I proposed to her right before my unit left for our final mission. She couldn't have the ring on her finger, so she placed it on the necklace. That was the same time when we vowed to search for one another once the war ended. That was the last time I saw her before yesterday"

"Why did she run?" Alice asked him.

"Kaplan found out she was pregnant and forced her to terminate the pregnancy. I remember coming to HQ to report after the war ended, but the next thing I remember is waking up on a bench in the park. Last night, Helena told me what really happened," his hand rested on his lantern, "she told me that after she woke up in the infirmary, Kaplan told her that if she searched for me, I would kill her if I ever turned the lantern on."

"What is the lantern connected to all of this?" Alice asked him, "I never fully understood what the lantern did"

"Inside the lantern burn some drugs they tested on us, all the 901 troopers," he sighed, and continued, "the drugs suppressed the rational side of our brains and left us using our primal instincts, pretty much like animals. That was they only way they could make any of us have the guts to face a tank without running away. That was the only way we could stand the injuries we got. Kaplan told Helena that combined with some sort of psychic treatment, the drugs on the lantern will make me kill her if when I lit the lantern she was in my sight."

Randel kept on looking to the scenery before him.

"Without the lantern I can't go in there and rescue her, because I wouldn't be strong enough. But if I use it, I will kill her and I would never stand that. All I can do is sit here and wait for the news of her death to come, for Kaplan to do some sort of experimentation on Helena and screw her life more!"

He stood and walked away, but Alice followed him.

"You are not going in there alone. I'm going with you"

Randel turned around in shock.

"LT! You can't go with me! You would get thrown away from the army, even if you are not killed in the process!"

She smiled to him.

"I am tired of letting the rules guide my life, Corporal. The only way to accomplish something on this times it to break the rules."

A sound of clapping was heard behind them and both of them turned to see Oreld and Machs standing behind them, Oreld clapping at Alice.

"I never thought that you Lieutenant, of all people would talk about breaking the rules. Maybe I should report you to our Commander"

Alice frowned at the blonde man.

"Are YOU gonna do it?"

Oreld just burst in laughter.

"Of course not! We just came by and ask you guys if you needed help to break in the Kaplan Institute!"

Randel looked at his co-workers.

"Why are you helping me?"

Mechs took a step forward to the tall man.

"We are a team. If they hurt one of us, we all strike back. You saved my life that time on the mechanic's warehouse. This is a way of paying you back"

"So it's settled then! We are breaking into the Kaplan Laboratories tonight!" Alice said, pulling her sword out, "we are freeing Helena, no matter the consequences!"

……

Helena woke up and found herself lying on a bed, her hands and feet handcuffed to the steel posts of the bed. She struggled to free herself, but all her efforts were useless.

"Stop doing that 001. You are only hurting yourself."

Kaplan was standing next to her bed. Helena ignored her and continued pulling the cuffs. Soon her wrists and ankles began to bleed, cut by the steel of the cuffs. She turned to face the white haired doctor.

"What are you gonna do to me this time? I have no baby for you to kill!"

The doctor smiled at her.

"No, you are not pregnant _now,_ 001. I presume that last night you and Corporal Oland were busy, right? Catching up the wasted time you two were apart?"

Helena spited at the doctor's face.

"You bitch! What are you planning to do with me? So what if Randel and I slept together last night, there is nothing you can do with that fact!"

Kaplan continued smiling, while she wiped her face with a cloth.

"Actually there is something I can do, 001. We have been developing a technique here in the lab. We are gonna make you get pregnant, with the Corporal's child, and after you give birth to the child, I am gonna do some experiments on that kid. This technique is called "In-vitro fertilization."", she moved closer to Helena's face, "You are gonna be the mother of a whole new race of Invisible 9 troops, mixed genes of perfect infantry soldiers like you and mindless killing machines like the Corporal. We are going to win the next war, and there is no one that is going to be able to stop us"

Kaplan rose from the position she was and turned to leave.

"Of course that after the child is born; you are not going to be necessary anymore. And since I can't leave any witnesses of my experiments, I am going to be forced to terminate your existence as well as the Corporal's"

Helena lied on the bed, horrified of what she just heard. _I am not letting her use my children like that! _She promised to herself,_ even if that means that I have to kill myself._

……

Dark shadows covered the walls of the Kaplan laboratories. It was a dark night and most of the scientists were leaving their posts to go home and rest. The only light on of the endless rows of windows were the ones of Muse Kaplan's zone. Most of the regular scientists knew that something was going on there, but none of them had the courage to investigate it. The older ones remembered watching the groups of young infantry soldiers, men and women, entering the big steeled double doors of that zone and only a few getting out, their faces different, gloomier, as if their souls weren't inside of them anymore. Then, a few months later the war began, and those soldiers were sent to the front lines, where a lot more died, and only ten of them came back to the laboratories after the war.

Four black figures walked to the side door of the building and tried to open it, but it was locked.

"Let me do it" one of the figures whispered and took out two wires. The other three smiled at him.

"Growing up in the streets teaches you a lot of stuff" The blonde man said to the group, and proceeded to crack the lock. A few moments later the door clicked open and they all slid inside the dark building. They walked through the hallways and approached the double steeled doors.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" a female voice whispered to the tallest of the shadows.

"Yeah, this is the place where we were supposed to come once the war was over. Kaplan's offices are right after this door. I presume that Helena must be inside there somewhere"

"Cover your faces." The woman ordered the three men and them all put black ski masks over their faces. They pushed the door and entered inside the room. Once they were inside, they found themselves in a room, with pictures hanging all over the walls. Machs took out his mask and approached the wall.

"Look, this is the Corporal's unit"

The other three turned around and walked to the picture he was staring at. On the wooden frame, there was a golden tag, the words 901-ATT engraved in Italics. In the picture there was the image of a group of twenty tall men, all with lanterns hanging from their belts, smiles all over their faces. Randel was in the back of the group, with a small smile and covering his eyes from the sun.

"This was taken before the war started." Randel said to them, "Before all this nightmare began."

Oreld walked to the other pictures, looking for one.

"This is Helena's unit, right? 912-SAT?" he said, pointing at another picture. Randel walked next to him and looked at the picture. Thirteen good looking girls stood facing the camera, a younger Helena on the right corner of the group.

"It was an all-girl unit?" Oreld asked.

"Don't be fooled by their looks. They were cold blooded assassins, and they were attractive women to make them blend. You would never fear of a little girl to come and kill you, right?"

Oreld nodded and Randel walked away from the wall.

"We should hurry." He said to Alice, and she turned to face him and nodded. Then she looked at Machs and Oreld, who took out of their pockets several charges of TNT.

"You two are going to go and place the charges on the main pillars of the building. The Corporal and I are going to get Helena out of here. Once your job is done, go to the meeting point. If by dawn, one of us hasn't arrived, pretend that we are dead and return to your obligations on Section III. Act normal and surprised to hear of the attack on the laboratories."

They all nodded and parted in different ways.

……

Helena was lying on the bed, after the procedure of fertilization was over. She was staring at the roof, while silent tears ran down her cheeks. She felt used and raped. She hated feeling helpless, but right now she was powerless, knowing that the cuffs that held her hands and feet were impossible for her to break. Soon she heard steps coming to her room, so she tried to dry her tears with her shirt. _That bitch is not having the pleasure of seeing me cry; _she vowed to herself, _she is not breaking me_ _that easily._

"So, you are awake, 001. I am pleased to see that the results of the procedure are going as expected. If everything continues this way, soon you are making me a happy grandmother."

Helena looked at her, terrified.

"What do you mean?"

"I guess we are not as alike as I thought. Do you still wonder why you happened to earn a military scholarship? I pulled my strings to make my only daughter a part of the Invisible 9 series, knowing that those soldiers were the only ones with bigger chances of survival."

"You are my mother? How is that even possible? How could an ice-hearted bitch like you have a child?"

"I made some mistakes in my youth, I recognize that. Getting pregnant while I was working as an assistant for your father wasn't the smartest thing to do. He forced me to give you away, and I must say that it was something I gladly did. I couldn't raise you because that was something that would affect my work. But I decided to keep an eye on you, knowing that you could be of some use for the project I was starting, the Invisible 9. So I decided to send you a scholarship for the military academy, and as soon as I knew that you were one of the best ones in your unit, I decided to recruit you for the SAT series. I was proud of you, I must admit, but the fact that you get involved with the Corporal was something that let me down. How could my offspring get involved like that with such an inferior person? And the news of your pregnancy was shocking. So I decided to kill that kid, not seeing that it could be the start of a new Unit. So now I want to set things right, making you have another child and making you the mother of a new race of soldiers."

Helena was silent for a long time. _This can't be possible… Kaplan is my mother? No, she is not my mother, I have no family. _

"You are not my mother." She said, "A mother is someone that cares about you that wants your happiness no matter what. You are nothing but a psycho-bitch that wants to destroy everything and everyone around you!"

Muse was about to add something else, when sirens began to rang on the building. She walked to the phone that was hanging from the wall and dialed a number.

"What is going on?" she yelled at the person on the end of the line.

"There is a breach on the perimeter. We found a guard knocked down and tied up in a closet. He said that two individuals attacked him, but he didn't had a chance to look at their faces"

"Deploy all the security units to my quarters! I want them to shoot as soon as they see them. Shoot to kill!" She hung up the phone and turned to face Helena, "So I think that your lover came for you. Too bad he is gonna get killed in the process"

……

Alice and Randel were running to the containing cells located in the basement when they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Here!" Randel said, pulling Alice to a dark corner of the building.

A group of thirty soldiers were running down the hallway, rifles in hand.

"They are gonna see us!" Alice said, her voice muffled for the mask on her face.

Randel stood up and walked to the center of the hall, in front of the soldiers. The group stopped and pointed their guns at him.

"Freeze!" The leader of the group shouted. Randel's hand reached his lantern and turned it on. A blue ghostly light flooded the dark hallway. His eyes were bloodshot and wide open. He took out his 13 mm gun and pointed at the group. The men kneeled down and aimed at the tall man standing in front of them. A loud gunshot was heard and the soldiers fell like domino pieces. Randel slid the fabric that covered his arm and pulled another bullet from the holster with his teeth. He placed it on the gun and shot again at the soldiers. Blood spattered everywhere and corpses fall down the hall. The thick bullets designed to penetrate armored tanks killed four of five soldiers every time. Soon all the soldiers were dead, their bodies covering the hall. Alice stood from her hiding place and walked next to Randel. What she saw scared her: Randel still had the lantern on and seemed to be scanning the place; his face was covered in blood and an expression that couldn't be described as nothing else as longing to kill covered his face.

_He knows Helena is here,_ Alice thought, scared to realize that fact, _he knows that she is here and is looking for her to kill her._

"Corporal!" Alice shouted at him, but he seemed to ignore her, "Snap out of it!"

He turned to face her and pushed her back. Alice fell and saw him charging his gun. He lifted it and pointed it at her. Alice's eyes widened in terror, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop him. Her breath quickened its pace, as the seconds seemed hours and she was staring at the end of the gun.

"You are not her" She heard him whisper and he turned away, leaving her lying on the floor, paralyzed with terror. Randel walked out of her sight and when he disappeared, she managed to get up.

_He is looking for her, _She thought, as the image of him raising the gun at Helena sent cold shivers down her spine, _I need to stop him, but how?_ Suddenly the realization hit her, _Of course! The lantern! If I turn it off, he will snap out of the trance!_ She lifted her sword and took one of the rifles of the dead soldiers. _I am going to stop him, no matter what it takes._ She ran in direction of the containment cells, hoping that she could make it on time.

……

Helena was lying on the bed, Muse Kaplan sitting on the chair next to the bed. They were waiting for the news to come, for the results of the war raging on the upper floors to come. Doctor Kaplan decided to sedate Helena, so she wouldn't scream and let her rescuers know where she was. Soon the young girl fell asleep and the woman standing next to her bed watched her, studying her face. Kaplan was thankful that Helena didn't look like her. The only thing that made them look alike was the shape of their eyes. The rest of her face was like her father's, but still beautiful in her own way. _She will make a beautiful experimentation subject,_ was the first thing Muse thought when she saw her walk through the door. The memory of the day flooded to her.

_Flashback_

_Muse Kaplan was sitting in front of her desk, her mind tired of the multiple interviews she made for the transfers from the Academy to the Institute. She had just finished the interview of the Private Oland, a tall teenager that was transferred to the new unit, the 901. She lifted the file of the next soldier and her eyes widened. "Private Helena Dawn" She smiled when she saw the last name of the private. She knew that was the last name given to privates that were orphans. _Finally, after all this time _she thought while she called her secretary to let the girl in._

_The door opened and revealed a young soldier, with her brown shoulder-length hair cascading down. The girl seemed to be between 16 or 17 years old._

"_Private Dawn reporting maam" She sai_d, _making the usual salute to her._

"_Please, sit down, Private. Do you know why you were transferred here?"_

"_No ma'am. I was ordered to come here and put myself under your command."_

"_Good. The things we are about to discuss are classified, so you can't talk about this to anyone"_

_She proceeded to apply test to her, which ended in her insertion to the SAT unit._

_End of flashback_

The door opened and a tall figure entered the room, surrounded by a blue light. Muse's eyes grew wide, _he lit it up. He is gonna kill her! _She stood between Helena's unconscious form and the man in front of her.

"Stop!" She commanded to the man, but he lifted his gun and pointed at her.

"Get out of my way" He said in a monotonous tone of voice.

"Corporal, stop! You are about to compromise a mission for your superior, which is me! Stop it right now!"

A loud gunshot was heard and blood spattered everywhere. Muse Kaplan fell to the ground, a big hole in the middle of her chest. Under her lifeless body a pool of crimson blood began to rise.

Randel pushed the corpse out of his way and walked to the bed where Helena was lying. He stood there looking for her a long time, a battle going within him.

"Totën Sië" his mind seemed to chant all along, "Totën Sië, Totën Sië, Totën Sië"

But his heart was fighting over his mind. (AN: Totën Sië means Kill in German, in case you haven't seen the anime)

"Stop it, don't kill her!!" His heart seemed to yell, but somehow it wasn't as loud as the voice in his head. He felt his hand grab the girl by her neck and pull her out the bed.

Helena regained consciousness when she felt a hand held her by her throat. She slightly opened her eyes and felt a blue light blind her and the shape of Randel beneath her, with his hand holding her and beginning to apply pressure on her.

"Randel… stop" she chocked the words out, trying to snap him out of his trance, but she saw in his eyes that he wasn't himself. She began to feel the lack of air in her lungs, and she began to feel dizzy. She thought that she was about to die when she heard a gunshot behind Randel. He let her go and turned to see the assailant, while Helena fell to the floor. She looked at the door and Alice was standing there, her rifle pointing at Randel.

"Corporal, stop! You don't want to kill her!" She yelled as she pulled out her sword, threw it and cutting the lantern out of his belt. The object fell next to Helena, who grabbed it and stood up, arduously. She shut the lantern off, but to her horror, Randel raised his gun and pointed at Alice.

……

(Huge sigh) Finally I finished this chapter. Seriously, this is one of the longest chapters I have written in my entire life!! My fingers hurt!!!


	6. Don't cry for pain

**Don****'t cry for pain**

_Click_. Alice was frozen on her spot, facing the famous "door knocker" on the hands of Randel. Slowly, he began pulling the trigger. She closed her eyes, waiting for the shot that would definitely kill her to come.

_BANG!_ Alice was surprised to hear a gun shot but not feeling any pain. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the gun lying a few inches away from her and a small trail of blood flowing from Randel's hand. Behind him, Helena was holding a gun that she took from Kaplan's corpse. Randel seemed surprised to see the blood running down his hand, but his stoic face showed no pain, no other emotion. He turned to face Helena and she loaded the gun one more time and pointed it at his heart. Alice could see that her hands were shaking, her mind hesitating to pull the trigger once more.

"Totën Sië" Randel whispered, taking a step closer to Helena.

"Randel stop it!" Helena cried at him. He ignored it and slapped her on her face, sending her flying a few meters on the air and crashing in a glass shelf filled with medical supplies. Helena stood with multiple cuts and scratches covering her bare arms and legs, blood flowing down them. Alice stood up and took the gun lying next to her. She aimed at the Corporal.

"Alice, don't do it!" Helena cried at her, before Randel ran to her and lifted her by the throat. His eyes were open wide, all the humanity from them long lost. Helena tried to split his grasp on her, but to no avail.

"Kill" Randel said.

"Stop it! You are a soldier! You are not a 901 trooper anymore! You are part of Pumpkin Scissors now!" Alice yelled at him, "we are a war relief unit, we are not murderers!"

Randel's eyes suddenly softened when he heard the last sentence.

"War relief…" He whispered and then he looked at Helena, "Helena…"

His grasp loosened, but then he held her tighter.

"Totën Sië" He whispered. Alice ran to him and pointed her rifle at his back. Randel turned around and pushed her back, smashing her against the shelves. Alice rolled on the floor, unconscious.

Soon he felt something wet running down his hand. He turned to see and instead of blood he saw a shinning trail falling down his hand. He lifted his head to see his prey and saw that she was crying. But on Helena's face there was no pain, no hatred. Her eyes shined with love.

"Randel please remember" She managed to choke out the words. "Look deep, you know who you are."

_I never meant to be this complicated_

_All I know is _

_I don't cry for pain_

_Don't cry from fear_

_You know that_

Randel's eyes began to soften once more, and his hands began to shake and to loose his grip on Helena's throat. He felt his memories from the war time coming back, of the hundreds of men he killed; of the time he rescued Helena from the tank. Of the time he proposed her to marry him. Of the pain he had been through for the last three years, of not knowing where she was. Of the joy he felt that day when he saw her photo on the file Machs gave him. He remembered the time he spend with her the night he found her and the love in her eyes the morning she woke up curled on his chest.

_I don't cry in the rain_

_No, not a tear_

_You know that._

Helena felt his grip getting loose and she fell down the floor. Alice woke up and stood up. She smiled when she saw Helena getting up. _If there was anyone capable of snapping him out of it, she was the one._

Randel put his hands on his head, his mind stopping at one single memory.

_Flashback._

_Randel stood in front of a small village on the eastern provinces. His hands were toying with a small wooden box. In the innumerable times he had faced a tank, he had never felt so nervous. _Gee, this is even harder than shooting at a double armored tank, _he chuckled to himself, his thoughts being interrupted by the sight of a young female soldier that came out of an officer's tent. Helena was carrying her hair tied up in her usual braid only that this one fell down to her shoulders. _

_Randel hid on a dark alley, which she was about to cross. She walked with her usual serious face, when she felt an arm holding her by her waist and a big hand covering her mouth. She was about to pull her swords out, when strong lips that she knew so well began kissing her passionately. She smiled on the kiss and placed her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her and returning the kiss with equal passion._

"_You scared the hell out of me, Randel!" She laughed when her lover pulled away from the kiss, seeking for some needed air, "I almost knocked you out!"_

_He laughed at the look of her disheveled uniform and blushed face._

"_Sorry about that, but I really needed to see you"_

"_Have you considered sending a letter, maybe? Or something a little less scary? You mister", she said, poking his chest mockingly with her finger, "are making me lower my guard, and one of this days, when I need to be alert, I am gonna be in big trouble!"_

_He laughed again and kissed her lightly on her lips._

"_I am sorry to be on your mind everyday my love" he said, smiling at her, "But this poor soldier is going on a mission and I wanted to see my beloved girlfriend before I leave"_

_Helena's face grew serious, concern all over her eyes._

"_You are leaving to the front? But you just came back!"_

_Randel grabbed her hand and squeezed it a little hard._

"_I know that I just came, but my unit has to go back. You know we have to."_

_Tears began falling down her eyes._

"_This is the price we have to pay for being soldiers, right? I have a mission too, that's why I was at the Commander's tent. He wants me to take down a General and his Officers tomorrow at their usual party. I am going undercover as a "company lady" he said. Gee, I hate being at those stupid parties, playing to be some ugly General's hooker. The only way I can stand it is knowing that you are waiting for me" She said, while she hugged him and he held her. Randel pushed her back and stared at her eyes. _It's now o never_, he sighed and kneeled before Helena. _

"_Randel, what are you doing there? Someone is going to see you!"_

"_I don't care if anybody sees me." He pulled the box out of his coat pocket and opened, revealing the golden ring that was given to him the day he "graduated" as a 901 trooper, "I know this is not a lot, but I do know how much I love you. What I am trying to say is… Helena Dawn, would you marry me?"_

_Helena opened her mouth in shock and tears fall down her eyes. Randel knew that this time they weren't tears from pain or fear. These ones were tears of love. She nodded and pulled him up to kiss her._

_End of flashback_

_Before you leave_

_When you go_

_I think you ought to know_

_Don't cry for pain _

_I only cry for love_

Helena stood up, seeing Randel fall down to his knees.

"How could I..." He said to himself, shaking his head.

Helena kneeled too and lifted his face to look at her. She leaned to him and kissed him lightly on his lips.

"It's not your fault." She whispered to him as she pulled back, "you fought it and you won. That is all that matters now"

He put his arms around her and held her closer to him as she did the same. They stood like that for long, until Alice realized something.

"We have to get out of here!"

They turned and saw her pulling them up.

"Oreld and Machs are setting charges to destroy the building. We have to leave now!

Randel stood up and turned to help Helena up. She tried to stood, but she fell down again.

"I can't walk." She said. Randel lifted her up and they ran outside the room. A few minutes later a huge explosion was heard and the building began to crumble. One hour later, all that was left was a pile of rubble, all the research on the Invisible 9 series destroyed forever.

……

The next day the news on everybody's mouth was the terrible attack on the Kaplan Institute. No one seemed to care about the fact that all the Section III took the day off, and announced the resignation of Corporal Oland.

Alice L. Malvin, heir princess of the Thirteen Appointed Families was on the balcony of her room, looking at the sun that shone on the early morning sky. She smiled as she remembered the events of the night before. _Corporal, take a good care of her. _She thought, looking at the gardens of her house.

"Alice! Are you there? Lord Schultz is here to see you!" The voice of her sisters was heard through the door. Alice took a deep sigh and answered back:

"I am not feeling well! Please tell him that I am too tired!"

The voice of her younger sister was heard.

"You are not fooling me! Get out of there immediately!"

Alice turned around and walked inside her room. _At least they have what they want, _she thought as she walked to the doors of her room.

……

The train was rolling fast through the railroad. Inside of a second class wagon, a young girl was sitting by the window, her head leaning to the glass of the window, her eyes closed and her breath indicating that she was in a deep slumber. What she didn't know was that a pair of eyes were locked on her figure. A tall man was sitting next to her, the wooden seat too small for his big body, but still he didn't care. His whole attention was settled on the little girl next to him. The long black coat she was wearing covered her arms, but he knew that under the fabric scars covered her arms. _And to think that is my entire fault,_ he said, his hand resting in the lantern that hung from his belt.

The girl lifted her head and rub her eyes with her gloved hands. She stretched herself a little and turned to look at her travel companion. She gave him a sweet smile and leaned to kiss him. She broke the contact and leaned to rest her head on his lap.

"What is wrong?" She asked, with her eyes closed.

The man smiled, that fact being unnoticed by her.

"What makes you think that there is something wrong with me?"

She shrugged.

"Call it feminine intuition. I can tell what you are thinking right now"

He smirked.

"And what am I thinking?"

She sat up. "You are feeling guilty for what happened to me on Kaplan's Lab. I already told you that there is nothing you could have done. If I am not blaming you, then why are you blaming yourself?"

He looked down. "I guess that I am blaming myself for letting you get hurt like that," he pointed at her arms,"but what I really blame on myself was the fact that I let you down, I stopped looking for you when I had the chance."

Helena sat up and looked at him in the eye.

"You never let me down. I was the one who chose to hide; I was the one who chose to run" she rested her head on his shoulder, "I was scared, that was all. But now the nightmare is over, we can start over"

Randel placed his arm around her shoulders and held her closer.

"I guess you are right," he said, "So, where do you want to go?"

Helena smiled at him.

"This train goes to the borders of the empire, so I guess that is were we are going. What about we leave the country? I think we should stay away until the incident on Kaplan's lab is forgotten."

"Yeah, you are right. So out of the country we are going."

He leaned to kiss her and they remained there for a while. The train kept of going, taking them away from the painful situations they had been in. It was time for them to start over, to begin the recovering of the war injuries they had.

**The End**

**……**

So this is the ending of my first Pumpkin Scissors fanfic. The lyrics on this chapter belong to the song "Don't cry for pain" of Ana Johnsson. I really like that song, and I thought that the choir was good for the part where Helena breaks Randel out of his trance. If you want a sequel just let me know!! Right now I am gonna finish my Sailor Moon story, as a promise I made to one of my reviewers!! See ya!!!


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